My Happy Ending, 2023.
Directed by Tal Granit and Sharon Maymon
Starring Andie MacDowell, Miriam Margolyes, Sally Phillips, Rakhee Thakrar, Tom Cullen, Michelle Greenidge, Tamsin Greig, David Walliams, Bhavik C. Pankhania, Evelyn Mok, Yvonne Edgell, and Zella Whitfield.
SYNOPSIS
Follows a famous star who finds herself in a British hospital room with three other women who help her.
There is a chance My Happy Ending (coming from directors Tal Granit and Sharon Maymon, courtesy of a script by Rona Tamir based on the musical stage play by Anat Gov) would have worked if the narrative stuck to a story about the lives of a small room of cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, homing in on the differences between their illnesses, ethnical backgrounds, ages, and what they are juggling in life.
Misguidedly, the most prominent of these fighters is a Hollywood actress fading in star power, which allows the filmmakers to make an equally ill-advised comparison between cancer and that industry’s treatment of older actresses. The idea is bold and interesting but clumsily handled, undercutting the tragic medical issues at the story’s core to focus on something else entirely.
Further sinking this concept is how Julia (Andie McDowell) is straight-up entitled, whiny, and unlikeable. Instructed by her doctor to visit a remote British facility that will start her chemotherapy, it turns out that there are no private rooms and that the treatments occur in a space for a small group of women to talk to one another.
Now, as a celebrity and public figure, there is some empathy as to why Julia wants her privacy, but the repeated insistence and childish acting out quickly becomes grating. As such, she phones and brings in her manager Nancy (Tamsin Greig), to attempt to correct these perceived wrongs. Naturally, cracks between their friendship and Julia’s choices emerge, and to the film’s credit, they do have a few solid dialogue exchanges.
The other three women present are Judy (Miriam Margolyes), Mikey (Sally Phillips), and Imaan (Rakhee Thakrar), all at different stages of cancer with vastly different personal lives. Judy is potentially about to receive some positive news but unsure of what to do with the probable free time, and Imaan is a mother to a young daughter hoping to be there throughout her life. The lives of each of these three characters are not fully fleshed out, but there’s much more to connect with than when it comes to Julia.
What makes the creative decision (and I’m assuming it was also this way in the musical) more confounding is that Julia, who has cancer the worst and has entered stage IV, has a daughter set to get married. There’s already a difficult choice to make; opt out of treatment to be present at the wedding and spend roughly one final year of life with that family on your terms, or go through the seemingly never-ending painful struggles of chemotherapy, potentially missing out on essential moments without too greatly expanding that remaining shelf life. That’s enough for relatable human drama, and there is no need for any of the prima donna Hollywood celebrity nonsense that consistently cuts into the narratives engaging aspects.
Stylistically, My Happy Ending occasionally wanders into fantasyland, where the women cope with pain by living out various dreams and imaginations. It’s another decent idea that allows the filmmakers to separate this story from a stage play confined in one location, but the actors typically come across as awkward, as if they are unsure what they should be doing or how to act out the scenes. They amount to nothing more than cheap and uninspired metaphors. Forget the happy endings; this whole journey is misguided.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com
